Segmentation
by Kamitose
Summary: Sometimes things must be broken down and segmented before gaining wholeness... same can be said for people. CyRae implications


**Title:** Segmentation

**Author:** Alicia "Kamitose" Hackney

**Summary:** ONE-SHOT. Sometimes things must be broken down and segmented before gaining wholeness... same can be said for people. CyRae.

**Rating:** PG-13

**Disclaimer:** None of the characters mentioned in this piece of fiction belong to me. They belong to the creators Marv Wolfman, George Perez, and Cartoon Network.

**Distribution:** As long as I am credited, and as long as you ask (and let me know once it's posted) then I don't care where its distributed. **BUT** you have to ask.

**Author's Note:** This takes place after season 4 but before Season 5. This is my second Teen Titans fic so here's hoping it turns out all right. I also don't care if some of you loathe this pairing... because I don't. I don't flame you so please don't flame me. Thank you.

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It was a Sunday. Generally the most quiet day at the Tower. The Titans would sleep in and unless the alarms were to sound, there wouldn't be a soul stirring until at least 11 AM.

That Sunday, however, was not the usual Sunday. Cyborg had been feeling particularly restless that night, despite his charger system automating all his functions. Physically speaking, he had experienced a full nights rest. His mind however was another story...

It was 6 AM when he decided to make his way to the commons room. No use trying to "sleep" when it hadn't come to him yet. He figured that he could pass the hours besting all of his prior top scores... and to make sure Beast Boy could never top him again. It irritated him to no end when someone beat his top score. He was kind of like Robin in that aspect... then again, most guys he knew, from both his previous life as Victor Stone and his current life as a Titan, held the same irritability in that respect. Must be a guy thing he mused to himself.

He must have been truely lost in innane thoughts for the sound of the bay doors whoosing open gave him a slight start. He hadn't realized that he was already at the commons room's entrance. He shook it off and headed for the creasant shaped couch in the center of the room.

He began to sift through the plethora of games that the Titan boys had amassed for themselves. Choosing the first to play was _always_ a dilema. He finally decided to top his best time in one of the newer racing games he had bought. He hit the power button on the GameStation... waited for it to load the game. His grip tightened on the controller as he clicked through menu upon menu. Almost there... the race loaded and he was fully revved for an exciting challenge...

The screen went blue. His GameStation had been disconnected from its power source. He checked the back of the consol and saw that the power source had in fact been disconnected from the port. But how it could have dislodged itself so easily, that was the mystery. Cyborg narrowed his human eye.

Not a mystery after all...

He turned towards the back of the room, his eyes fixating on a small glimmer of gold shining in a particularly dark corner. He slowly stood up, glaring.

"What the Hell did you do that for Raven! I was trying to play a game!" He snapped at the girl hiding in the dark.

She didn't miss a beat as she retorted in a cold, matter-of-fact manner. "I'm nursing a headache. It's 6 AM... you should be charging." She took a sip of her tea after letting the vapors envelope and warm her face.

He just glared for a moment longer as he thought of his next words. Phrasing things properly was a must with Raven. She was a master at using your own words against you. She would make a fine lawyer.

"Look," he said, finally. "I'm fully charged, but I just couldn't rest. I came out here to play some games in peace because I thought no one else would be up at this hour. Is that alright with you o 'miss high and broody'? Or would you prefer to remain sulking in solitude... like always." His words came out more venomous than he had intended.

She remained shrouded in her shadowy corner as if it were her safety blanket. "What part of 'headache' didn't get through to you?" She didn't give him the time to answer. "Perhaps if you search really deep in that convoluted mass of circuitry you call a brain, you might find a notion called common sense. Its an amazing thing. You really should consider using it sometime."

Her words were not lacking venom either he came to realize. Neither of them were in any mood to be civil, and yet he suspected that neither of them meant to be so rude either. He walked towards the kitchen counter and pulled up a stool. He sat down, not once taking his eyes off the troubled empath. "Why the headache? Couldn't sleep, sinus, uhm... other things? What?" He rested his elbows on the counter. "C'mon Rae..."

She remained calm in her shadows. "Can a girl just have a slight pain without it being the end of the world? It's just a headache."

Cyborg perked an eyebrow. He wasn't buying it. Rae was never this vocal and emotive about things. Something else was plaguing her. "Will you at least come out of the shadows and talk to me? You know I don't bite." He said trying to lure her out.

"I can talk to you just fine from here." She shifted her weight a bit and folded her legs under her, making her appear smaller. "In fact I really don't feel like talking."

Cyborg didn't let up. "That's the problem Rae, you _never_ feel like talking. You bottle. Every little thing is bottled. I mean, God forbid you show even a microb of emotion. Unless of course you're forced to." He would find out what was bothering her... of that he was resolved.

She gave him no response.

"I'm not giving up so easily, Raven. I'm going to get to the bottom on this... you cut off my GameStation, so now I need something to do and it looks I've found it. What's. Wrong?" He said slightly indicating she brought the scrutinization on herself.

The plug to the consol suddenly was enveloped in black energy and levitated its way back into the port. The GameStation came back to life moments later.

"Problem solved. Have fun." Raven said as she stood to excuse herself.

Cyborg ignored the consol and went over to Raven. "Stop avoiding me." It was more of a demand than a request. He put a firm hand on her delicate shoulder and silently urged her to sit down. She was quite displeased. "I'm going to ask you again... what's wrong?"

Raven attempted to keep her silence as long as possible. She had hoped that he would just give up out of frustration... however she forgot that Cyborg had a reputation for being as stubborn as her. She refused to look him in the face. This signaled a bit of alarm in Cyborg. His concern deepened.

"Why won't you look at me?" He pleeded softly.

She paused as her throat suddenly felt dry. The words threatened to come out but they met resistance in her wind pipe. She swallowed a bit of fear down. The words finally were able to make their way out. "I'm scared..." She whispered. She was hoping he didn't hear her.

Unfortunately for Raven, his sensors were able to pick up the words. He felt a pang in his metalic chest. Something in the way she said it. Its as if she passed on a bit of her fear and saddness onto him as well. He paused before digging further. "Why?"

"I'm afraid... I might... no. Why am I even telling you this? This is my fight, not yours."

"This is a **team** Raven! Their is no 'your fight, my fight' shit. There is no _I_ in team! I know how cliched that is but dammit Raven, you don't have to fight this alone, no matter what it is!" Cyborg said holding her shoulders firmly in his large hands. "What is wrong?"

"I'm afraid I'm going to become like him... like my father." She quietly admitted. She turned away from him keeping her face further hidden. "Are you satisfied? You got the answer you wanted. Now just let me be Cyborg... please." She managed.

Cyborg was momentarily at a loss for words. "Rae..."

"J-just go... just go, Victor." She meakly said. Her voice sounded like an echo of its former self. She began to step back into the shadows.

She had called him Victor. **None** of the Titans had used his real name before. He's not even sure if he ever told them. But then again, Raven did have her ways. That wasn't important at the moment, what was, however, was helping her. He still owed her for the time she helped ease his mind about Sarasim. "Raven, that is ridiculous. You are nothing like your father... and you never will be..."

"We share the same blood..." She retorted. It was as if she needed to validate her fears to him. She couldn't be seen as foolish, as vain as it sounded.

"Only half... and being half of something doesn't make you entirely like that. I'm half machine Raven... but deep down, I'm completely human. You're no different." He responded.

"You aren't half devil Cyborg. It's completely different! You have no idea how hard it is to maintain a balance within yourself day-in and day-out. You have no idea what its like to live with the knowledge that your only purpose in life was to destroy it. What its like to feel the fires of Hell in your veins in the morning and the coldness of the abyss in your heart at night. I have to kill my feelings everyday. I killed my father, now regardless how much animousity I feel towards him, its not something I feel happy about proclaiming. So don't tell me I'm no different. Because that's a bold-faced lie." She spat, spinning around to face him at last.

This had been what she was hiding from him. She had taken on a slight physical transformation... her eyes were more red than purple, yet still her own. Her hair had paled a bit and her features seemed more feral.

"I've woken up this way for the last few mornings, Cyborg. Good little Raven, she's such a daddy's girl." She said bitterly. He could see, as she spoke, that her teeth had grown slight points as well.

He took a step back in shock. "Raven, why didn't you come to any of us about this?" He said reaching out, as she turned around.

She looked back at him, her face, surprisingly timid despite the recent changes. "I thought you'd shun me." She paused. "I... thought you'd hate me... I was scared." She wrapped her arms around herself.

"Rae, we would never... I mean, you're family. I told you from the first... we got an alien, a green kid, and a tin man, you fit in just fine. We will never hate you Raven. Besides, you can't pick your parents... who your father was is NOT your fault." He consuled as he pulled her closer towards him. He hated it when she stood so distant from him.

"But part of him will always be in me." She said looking down.

"You are you're own person, Rae! The more you think this way the more you let him win. He only haunts you now because you let him. He lives in you because you think he does. He's dead Raven, and blood relations be damned, you are not him! You are Raven, Teen Titan, defender of Jump City, you saved the world. You are not your father and never will be. Why can't you see this?" He pleeded.

"Because for so long... I've let him blind me." She admitted in defeat.

"Then open your eyes and see what life has been hidding from you. There are so many things out there Raven. You just have to take the chance on them." He said pulling her into a hug.

She didn't resist his show of affections for once. She just let herself get lost in his arms. She didn't mind either. His metal chest didn't feel the least bit cold or uncomfortable. She leaned her head against where his heart would rest. "Where do I start?"

"Seeing the sunrise for the first time always works. And I mean a remorse free sunrise." He said quietly as he reassuringly stroked her soft hair. He could sense her features returning to normal. "Followed by waffles. We'll go out to that replica diner place that serves breakfast twenty-four hours a day. Waffles taste better when you don't have the weight of the world on your shoulders. We can order a mega stacker with loads of fattening maple syrup!" He said loosening the hug slightly and giving her a big grin.

"And what am I going to eat?" Raven said making a small attempt at humour.

"Uhm... oh yeah... didn't think about that." he laughed. "You usually only have tea. They have sweet tea! Southern style. Loads of sugar!"

She smirked slightly. "I..." The smirk faded. She looked Cyborg in the eye for what seemed like an eternity. She then gave him a kiss on the lips that she let linger for a few seconds. And then she broke it off. What she found was a slightly bewildered, slightly "drugged" Cyborg staring at her in utter confusion.

"What was that for?" He finally managed.

"For helping me. Thank you." She said sincerely. She blushed for a moment. "I believe we have a sunrise and waffle breakfast to catch." She pointed at her wrist like she was indicating the time. "The sun waits for no one and I certainly am not getting any younger." She said in a mock impatience. She then glided to the stairs at a faster rate than usual. "Well, are you coming?" She asked.

Cyborg just stared in disbelief. "Y-yeah..." he stuttered as he headed for the stairs.

The End. Questions, comments, like it, loathe it? This was my first attempt with this couple but I doly love them so!


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